See No Evil (Anthony Lockwood)

chapter 55

"There's no point trying to break the door down," George said, watching Violet angrily kick at it.

Lockwood took her arm and maneuvered her away from the door, "You're only gonna hurt yourself, Vi. Just focus."

"I am focused," Violet hissed quietly, "I can feel lots of things in this area. Death, death, and more death. And whispering. It's so fucking annoying."

"Alright," Lockwood remained patient, rubbing his hands up and down her tense arms, "So that tells us there is something here. I don't see anything yet. Lucy, what are you getting?"

"Just like Vi said. A lot of whispering voices."

"And your friend in the jar? What does he say?"

Lucy scoffed, "It's not my friend. Skull?"

"There's ghosts up here. Lots of them. So...now do you accept that you should've stabbed the old codger when you had the chance? If you'd listened to me, you wouldn't be in this mess, would you?"

"We're not in a mess!" Lucy snapped.

"He's right though," Violet muttered, "I should've stabbed that guy."

"No. We can't stab a suspect! The both of you, I swear!"

The Skull was chuckling darkly, "You're growing on me, dead girl. Like a fungus."

"Fuck you very much."

Lockwood cleared his throat to draw their attention. It was easy to forget sometimes that only Lucy and Violet could hear the Skull's voice.

"Sorry," Lucy apologized, "He's just being annoying, as usual. Says there's lots of ghosts."

"I figured. Vi, when we get out of here, you aren't allowed to stab the suspect," Lockwood reminded her.

"I know," she rolled her eyes, "I wasn't really gonna hurt him."

George and Lucy shared a knowing look. Violet was definitely planning on hurting that guy.

"Just making sure. George. Temp?"

"It's dropped eight degrees."

"The fire door acts as a barrier," Lockwood observed as he clicked on his flashlight, "Look, it's got iron bands on it. That keeps our nice little old couple safe in their living quarters on the ground floor. But anyone who rents a room up here falls victim to something lurking in the dark..."

His flashlight illuminated the area around them. They were standing just below a landing decorated with cheap and ugly decor. The doors were all numbered and it was freezing cold. Lockwood's flashlight began to flicker until its light went out altogether.

"All right. Listen to me. We keep calm, we take care of whatever's up here, then we find a way to tackle Evans. George, rig up an iron circle here. Lucy, see what the skull has to say. Vi and I will check out the nearest room."

Violet nodded in agreement, following right behind him into the nearest room. She adjusted the strap on her rapier hilt so that it remained tight on her wrist. Her tremor was a bit worse than usual, so she would have to be careful with handling it.

"You ok, Vi?" Lockwood asked softly.

"I'm fine. Just a little stressed."

"We'll be ok. I've got you. Always."

Violet gave him a small smile that dropped as soon as she looked around the room, "I know my sight isn't as fantastic as yours, Ani, but even I can see that shit."